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Sadly, this may be the hardest thing to keep on hand, even
though every person who takes medicine regularly should have a decent supply. This
is particularly important for medicines that must be taken every day, like
those for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, or asthma. I tell my
patients to get a month ahead in their stock of medicine. This can be a real
problem when your insurance will only give you 30 days worth of medicine and
you can't get a refill until day 26.

The first thing to try is to get your doctor to give you separate
prescriptions for the medicines for emergencies. Your insurance may be willing
to pay for an extra prescription if they know it is part of an emergency kit. Just
make sure your pharmacy knows this is a special prescription for an emergency
supply so they don't put it in your regular refill system. If this happens, you
won't be able to get next month's refill and you are back to having no
emergency pills.

Another possibility is that your doctor may be able to give
you 30 days worth of samples. As you empty a pharmacy bottle, take the pills
out of the sample boxes and put them in the bottle that has your name and
dosage on it. With the less expensive medicines, it may be easier just to pay
for an extra month’s worth out of your own pocket.

You need to have a month's supply in each bottle so you can
rotate the medicines and they don't expire. If the emergency supply is less the
amount you usually get, you can't put it in the rotation with your regular
pills. And, putting a small bottle of pills in an emergency kit practically
guarantees that they will be out of date when you need them.

Get a month ahead by buying your pills on the very first day
you are allowed to get a refill. This is usually when you have four or five
pills left from last month. Next month when you refill as early as possible,
you will have eight or ten extra pills. Keep going till you have a whole extra
bottle on the shelf. When you open this bottle, go get your next refill. Don't
wait. If you use half of the pills in the bottle before you get your refill,
the next refill will not be available for another 30 days and you have just
lost half of your emergency supply. You have to work at keeping your refills on
schedule and using the next bottle of medicine in order so you stay a month
ahead.

Once you get used to the rotation system, it is really much
better. You don't have to worry about forgetting your pills when you go to
visit the grandkids. Since you have spares at home, there is time for your
daughter to mail the forgotten pills back to you. And, you don't have to worry
about forgetting to pick up your next refill and going the weekend without your
medicine. You have a little breathing room for life's little emergencies as
well as the big ones.